Dr Ross Stephens
Applied Mathematics

Novel nanoparticle composites offer great promise in medical applications, where they can perform carrier, labeling and targeting functions for both diagnostic imaging and therapeutic tasks. A first requirement however is assembling appropriate materials that have a high level of biochemical compatibility with blood and that have a surface easily modified to confer specificity while preserving a core of a traceable label. Our imaging composites consist of selected radionuclides encapsulated in graphitic carbon that can passively absorb peptides and proteins on their surface and thereby provide for circulation persistence as well as recognition of pathological changes in target tissue. In this talk I will briefly describe some of the composites and their applications we are developing in oncology and infectious disease.

Ross Stephens is a biochemistry PhD graduate of Sydney University with more than 30 years experience in cancer research, with special interests in the mechanisms employed by tumours in remodeling and invading host tissue. A large part of his career has been spent in Scandinavia, especially at the Finsen Laboratory, Copenhagen University Hospital, where he worked on the plasminogen activator system and related proteolytic components as plasma prognostic markers in colorectal cancer patients. He has extensive experience in University-industry collaborations, as well as employment in the pharmaceutical industry. Back in Australia he has worked closely with industry in the oncology area, and currently leads the Browitt laboratory at ANU that has collaborative research projects with Sirtex Pty Ltd, an Australian company marketing a successful product for liver cancer patients. He has published 136 scientific papers and is an inventor on 8 granted and 11 pending US patents.

Refreshments will be held in the Tea Room after the Seminar (around 5pm)

ALL WELCOME